Punchlines and Naruto
by jankitty13
Summary: Naruto and Hinata are finally a couple! Well, that's great news. Then why is Hinata looking so down? And what does she mean she wants to make Naruto laugh? And when Tenten and Lee are thrown into the fray, you know it's got Naruto SD style for sure! Takes place after The Last.


Hey, everyone!

I recently got back into Naruto lately, and it got me inspired to write fanfiction about it.

This story is partially based on Naruto SD and takes place after the last. I would have posted this earlier in the year, but I had a lot to do and I wanted to post this before the end of the year.

This is my first Naruto fanfiction and it's a bit rushed, especially towards the end, so please go easy on me. I might edit this later in the future, so tell me if there's anything you think is missing anything later.

I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Hinata Hyuga had a major dilemma.

No, it wasn't anything dramatic as setting up a date for her teammates.

No, it wasn't anything serious like winning a war.

No, it wasn't anything like getting the approval of her father for the 1000th (?) time.

And no, it certainly wasn't trying to win the affections of her blond true love, a certain Naruto Uzumaki, proclaimed future Seventh Hokage of the Leaf Village.

Not that she needed to do such a thing-it had only been two months since the duo had returned from rescuing Hinata's little sister, Hanabi, from a certain man lived on the moon and shall not be named (at least around Naruto), confessed their love for each other and had gotten together.

And Hinata could not be any happier, having finally accomplished her life-long (and I do mean life-long) dream of becoming her Naruto-kun's girlfriend. Now there was nothing that could ruin her happiness.

Except...

Except that there was this _one_ little thing that was bothering her. And no, it wasn't trying to convince Naruto that they should elope and get married. They had plenty of time to do that in the future. (Marrying, not eloping. Hiashi would kill Naruto if that happened. Plus, Hinata _would_ like to have her dream wedding.)

Anyway, what was bothering our dear Hinata-chan was something that would ordinarily be considered so insignificant, but, to our dear Hinata-chan, could also have a huge effect on the relationship all NaruHina fans have been shipping since day one.

What, you ask, could be this huge problem?

Ladies and gentlemen, I am sad to say... _that Hinata Hyuga wants to learn how to make Naruto Uzumaki laugh_.

And so begins our story for the day.

* * *

"Tenten-san?"

Said twenty-year old girl turned around at the sound of her name. "Hinata? What's up?"

"I-I need your help." Wait, did Hinata just _stutter_?

 _And was she poking her two index fingers together?_

"I need your help...and Lee-san's help too." Why, yes, it appears so.

"Help? With what? And why me and Lee?"

"It-it's only something you can do!"

Tenten sighed. "All right, I'll go call Lee and then we can-"

Suddenly the duo were engulfed by a whirlwind of dust. When the dust had settled, both Hinata and Tenten were coughing. Well, Tenten was coughing. Hinata was stuck nose-to-nose with a familiar bushy-browed man wearing a green spandex suit walking on his two hands.

The man smiled, his brilliantly white teeth briefly blinding even the writer. "You rang?"

"Lee! What the heck?" Tenten coughed out. "Why can't you just arrive like normal people?!"

"My apologies! But I heard my name called out and I arrived as soon as I could." Lee flipped back onto his feet.

"I-IwanttomakeNarutokunlaugh."

"What? Could you repeat that, Hinata?"

"I said that...I want to-to make Naruto-kun alugh."

"..."

"..."

"Did I just hear you properly? Did you say you want to make Naruto..."

"Laugh? Yes." Hinata had her straight face on. She was serious.

Honestly, Tenten didn't have a response ready.

Lee, on the the hand, was all too eager to help out. "Of course we will help you!"

"But Lee!" Tenten protested. "Don't you remember what happened last time we tried something like that?"

 _We now enter a Flashback from so long ago  
_

 _(This takes place after Naruto SD Episode 9. Hinata has had some extra comedy training from Team Guy in preparation for this.)_

 _"N-Naruto-kun!"_

 _"Hm? Oh, hey, Hinata, what's up!"_

 _"The...the.." Poor Hinata was so embarrassed, she didn't even know what she was doing, for crying out loud!  
_

 _Naruto blinked. "Uh, Hinata, did you say something?"_

 _"...the...the.." Come on, she could do this! She can definitely nail the punch line! It's a easy as one, two..._

 _"Hinata?"_

 _Three! "The sky is what's up!" she blurted out._

 _"..."_

 _"..."_

 _chirp...chirp...chirp..._

 _Somewhere up in the sky, a certain crow was saying, "Aho, Aho, Aho!"_

 _Hinata turned very, very,_ very _red._

 _Naruto smiled. "Of course the sky is up, Hinata! Just like always-ttebayo!"_

Thunk! _Hinata was out cold._

 _"Hinata? Hinata?! What just happened-ttebayo?" the confused Uzumaki asked._

 _"Na-ru-to. Uzumakiiiiiiii...!"_

 _"N-neji?"_

 _"You..how dare you do that to Hinata-sama!"_

 _"E-eh? Neji, what are you-?"_

 _"EIGHT TRIGRAMS: AIR PALM!"_

 _"AAAAAHHHHHH!"_

 _We now_ _end the Flashback_ _  
_

"But Tenten, that is all the more reason to do this! As fellow comrades of the late Neji, the least we can do is help his cousin achieve her goal!" Lee getting a bit too enthusiastic about the task. And did he have to bring up Neji?

"I don't know, Lee, it still seems kind of..." Tenten-san was trying her hardest to stay out of the situation. Unfortunately, Lee and Hinata just wouldn't let her.

"Please, Tenten-san!" Hinata begged, using her-wait, were those her cute puppy eyes?

"FOR NARUTO-KUN!" And now Lee was using them too!

Tenten-san sighed. "Oh, all right." _Drat those darn puppy eyes, they're always my weakness._

"Tosh!"

"Thank you, Tenten-san!"

 _Sigh, I wish Neji was here now._

Tenten paused at that thought. _Actually, wait, no, he'd just make this worse._

* * *

"Okay, here goes... Hinata, hit me with the best joke you've got!" _  
_

Tenten stood poised, ready to take on whatever joke Hinata came up with.

"O-okay. Um...I learned this from Shino-kun..."

"Let her rip!"

"Naruto-kun... you have so much energy. You must be a battery, because unlike me, you are included in everything!"

"..."

"..."

"Did Shino really teach you that?" Tenten-san deadpanned.

"Well, not exactly..." Hinata sweatdropped.

 _We now enter a flashback from so long ago_

 _"Kiba, I think I understand how batteries feel."_

 _"What?" Kiba did not understand what his close friend Shino had just said._

 _"I understand how batteries feel... because I'm rarely ever included in things either."_

 _"...Dude, this isn't about me not inviting you to the pool party yesterday, is it?"_

 _We now end our flashback_

Tenten just shook her head . "Honestly, those two." She refocused on the task beforehand.

"Well, what else do you have? Come on, that can't be all you have!"

"Well, I do have one more."

"All right then! This time, try it on Lee instead!"

"Got it! Here goes...! Lee-san!"

Lee snapped to attention. "Yes, Hinata-san?"

Hinata held out a water bottle that appeared out of nowhere."Water you doing today?"

...

Tenten swore she heard crickets chirping in the background

"Why, thank you, Hinata-san, I was starting to get a bit thirsty!" Lee took the water bottle and started drinking from it.

Hinata had a pleased look on her face.

And Tenten?

Tenten had only one thing in her mind:

 _This'll never work_

* * *

 _The next day..._

"All right, Hinata." Tenten have one last pep talk to Hinata. "Now's your chance to show Naruto how funny you can be. It's a good thing you two had a date planned already, you can use this opportunity to show off your training!"

"Right!" Hinata had a determined look on her face. "I will do my best to make Naruto-kun laugh. It will be a life or death mission!"

"Um, let's not go that far." Tenten sweatdropped.

"Good luck, Hinata-san! I will be rooting you on!" Lee cheered.

"Hey, Hinata!"

"Shoot, that's Naruto! C'mon, Lee, we have to hide!" Tenten grabbed Lee and the duo scampered off to who knows where. Even Hinata's Byakugan couldn't track them down.

Sweatdropping at her friends' behavior, Hinata turned around to greet her blond lover. "Naruto-kun!"

Naruto beamed at her. "There you are, Hinata! You ready for our date-ttebayo?"

"Yes!" And Hinata meant it. But soon she would regret it.

* * *

"Hey, Hinata..."

"Yes, Naruto-kun?"

"Are you going to eat your ramen? It looks like it's getting cold-ttebayo."

Hinata blinked. "Oh, right!" She turned back to her ramen.

The truth was, Hinata couldn't focus on her ramen. Earlier in their date, Hinata had used some of her punchlines to try to make Naruto laugh. Sadly, none of them worked.

Then again, she supposed jokes like "You're like the sky-a sunny blue sky with no clouds!" and "Ra **men** is the work of gods!" just weren't funny at all. But that was all she had!

"Hinata, you going to eat?" Naruto snapped her out of her reverie.

"Uh, yes." She was just about to do that when she spotted a certain object.

"Neh, Naruto-kun?"

"What is it, Hinata?"

"Do you need salt?"

"What?" Naruto wasn't sure he heard her correctly.

"I hope you don't need salt in your ramen...Because that will make you too salty!" She held up the salt shaker in front of him to emphasize her point

"..."

"..."

"..."

Somewhere above the two, a bunch of Ravens cawed out "Aho! Aho! Aho!"

"Hinata? Are you okay today? You've been acting a bit weird."

And that was it. That was what made Hinata Hyuga loose whatever dignity she had left.

She turned bright red, pivoted, and ran off in a cloud of dust with a confused Uzumaki calling after her.

"Hinata? HINATAAAAAA!"

"..."

A gust of wind blew after him.

"Something's up with Hinata...and I'm going to find out what it is or my name's not Naruto Uzumaki! Dattebayo!"

* * *

"Tenten, what do we do? Hinata-san has abandoned the mission!" Somewhere neaby, Lee and Tenten were spying on the couple. Which meant that they saw the whole"salt" fiasco.

Why were they spying on the couple, you ask? Well, let's just say Tenten got worried and convinced Lee to check up on Hinata. As in spy on her inconspicuously (as far as hiding in the bushes counts as inconspicuous in Koboha, that is).

So here they were, innocently spying on Naruto and Hinata, trying to find a way to salvage Hinata's jokes and make Naruto laugh.

"Calm down, Lee. We can still fix this." Tenten was determined to fix the situation. "We just have to find where Hinata is and get her to... Tell...Oh, hi, Naruto, fancy meeting you here."

Standing right before Lee and Tenten was one angry blond Uzumaki.

How did he find out their location? Easy: Sage Mode. He planned on using it to find Hinata, but instead found Lee and Tenten. Meaning he overheard their entire conversation just now.

And he wasn't happy at all.

"So, it was you guys! You're the reason Hinata has been acting so weird today! You're the ones who caused this mess! Dattebayo!"

"W-wait, Naruto-!"

"Naruto-kun, please listen-!"

"How dare you try to change Hinata! You're really gonna get it-ttebayo!"

 _"RASENGAAAAAANN!"_

 _"Aaaaaahhhhhhhh!"_

* * *

Hinata Hyuga was very good at running away.

She always has been, ever since she was a little girl, way before she became a genin. Part of the reason for this is because back then, she had a major crush on Naruto. This led her to watch (stalk) Naruto and run away before he caught her in the act.

Unfortunately, this time, it looked like he was going to catch her running away. "HINATA? HINATA!"

Hinata jumped at Naruto's voice before turning around to face him. "N-Naruto-kun," she stuttered. Great, she was back to stuttering again.

"Hinata, I found out what happened from Lee and Tenten. Why did you run away? Did I do something wrong? Dattebayo."

Great, the jig was up. Oh well, best tell him the truth. "I was just trying to make you laugh." Hinata admitted, poking her fingers together.

*What! Why-ttebayo?" Naruto was surprised at Hinata's confession.

"I've made you smile so far... I wanted to make you laugh, because you've never laughed because of me before. I recruited Lee-san and Tenten-san to help me... But it didn't go so well."

"I know I'm silly... But that was what I wanted. To make you laugh from the bottom of your heart is my wish."

Naruto didn't say anything...at first. Then he lowered his head and started trembling.

Hinata closed her eyes and waited for his outburst of... Laughter?

"BWAHAHAHAHA! That's why you did all this? Just to make me laugh-ttebayo?" Naruto doubled over, laughing

"Well ...Yes." Hinata's face flushed with embarrassment.

Naruto held his side while he continued laughing. "You're so silly, Hinata! You _can_ make me laugh! You don't have to go that far, You have nothing to worry about-ttebayo!"

Hinata started laughing too. "I guess I was kind of silly, huh?"

"You sure were. But that's what I like about you. It makes you look cute," Naruto stopped chuckling and held her hand.

"But Hinata?"

"Yes, Naruto-kun?"

"Can you tell me some more of those jokes later, please?"

"Yes!"

Hinata could not be any more happy.

* * *

Bonus

Neji Hyuga had a major dilemma.

No, it wasn't being dead.

No, it wasn't being a ghost.

No, it wasn't anything like not having enough gave offerings.

And no, it wasn't anything like trying to ask a girl out (where do people get that idea from?).

His problem could be summed up in three words: blond, loud, and rhymes with Uzumaki.

That's right, Neji saw the whole thing that occurred.

He's dead, so how did he see it? By making his daily visit to earth as a spirit, of course!

And now that he saw that whole display...

"How dare you...to Hinata-sama...!"

"I will curse you...Naruto Uzumakiiiiiiiii!"

To be continued...(?)

* * *

The Byakugan sees all, Naruto. XD

Happy New Year, everyone! See you all in 2017!


End file.
